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Debussy, Faure, Franck, Saint-Saens & Francoeur: Works for C
Audite Musikproduktion · Nov 2016CD$20.99 -
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Duval: Les Genies ou les Caracteres de l'Amour / Ensemble Il Caravaggio
Château de Versailles Spectacles · Feb 2024CD$29.99 -
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C.P.E. Bach: Chamber Music, Phyllis and Thirsis / Les Adieux
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi · Dec 2010CD$17.99 -
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Mahler: Symphonies No 9 & 10 (Adagio) / Maazel, Vienna Philharmonic
Sony Masterworks · Mar 2010CD$29.99 -
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Mercadante: Didone Abbandonata / Marchi, Academia Montis Regalis, Coro Maghini
Naxos AudioVisual · Jun 2019DVD$30.99 -
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Montemezzi: L'incantesimo - Debussy: L'enfant prodigue / Fracassi, Italian Philharmonic
Bongiovanni · Oct 2019CD$32.99 -
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Debussy, Faure, Franck, Saint-Saens & Francoeur: Works for C
Duval: Les Genies ou les Caracteres de l'Amour / Ensemble Il Caravaggio
Would you happen to know Mademoiselle Duval, the composer of a single opera, Les Genies, performed nine times in 1736, which was a great success and has never been performed again since its premiere at the Academie Royale de Musique in Paris? A singer and composer, Mademoiselle Duval was the second woman to create an opera there, following in the footsteps of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. Although her life remains a mystery, this accomplished harpsichordist, who dazzled audiences by playing continuo at the premiere of Les Genies, wrote a work of entertainment contemporary with Les Indes Galantes, in which each act unfolds a new love story centred on the Geniuses of Water (Les Nymphes), Air (Les Sylphes), Earth (Les Gnomes) and Fire (Les Salamandres). It's a little marvel that Camille Delaforge's curiosity has finally brought us, passionately conducting this rarity of the French repertoire with absolute joy!
Mozart: Violin Sonatas / Dego, Leonardi
Following her critically acclaimed recording of Mozart Concertos with Sir Roger Norrington and the RSNO, Francesca Dego turns to a selection of his Sonatas with her long-term recital partner Francesca Leonardi. Dego commented ‘Francesca and I have been playing together for seventeen years, more than half my life and the totality of my career. To work as a duo on a regular basis means reaching common interpretative solutions, ones that sum up each player’s qualities, and creates a great sense of mutual responsibility. What you do together somehow feels naturally complete. We decided to build this album around our very favorite Sonata, KV 454 in B flat major, which we had been performing for many years and in which Mozart’s simplicity and flamboyance coexist in perfect harmony.’
REVIEWS:
“… the balance between Dego and Leonardi is impeccable, along with the sense of two musicians singing from the same hymn sheet…If you’re looking for unfailingly tasteful and refined playing, then Dego and Leonardi neatly tick that box…”
Demars: Pieces de Clavecin
C.P.E. Bach: Chamber Music, Phyllis and Thirsis / Les Adieux
I will start this month with some instrumental music by C. P. E. Bach, expertly presented by members of Les Adieux and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's Baroque Esprit label. First comes a set of 12 Little Pieces for two flutes, two violins and continuo, H600, and how winning they are when played so stylishly and when the authentic textures (varying in instrumentation from piece to piece) are so transparent. The following Hamburg Sonata for flute and continuo in G, H564, needs to be approached separately, for there is an awkward pitch change as it opens. A charming three-movement Duo for flute and violin (1-1598) follows, then there are two somewhat more substantial Trio Sonatas, H567 and H571 - the highlight of the programme. Both have touchingly melancholic Adagios to offset their sprightly Allegro outer movements. The collection ends most appropriately with the miniature cantata Phyllis and Thirsis (Rosmarie Hofmann and the excellent Nigel Rogers, respectively), as this features obbligatos for a pair of flutes. This division of the two vocal roles here is more convincing than in Bach's original scheme, where the soprano was expected to take both parts, more particularly as Nigel Rogers is here at his freshest and most appealing. A most rewarding programme, immaculately recorded.
-- Ivan March, Gramophone [8/1996]
Franck: Complete Songs & Duets / Graziani, Gens, Christoyannis, Cohen
Abundant though it is, César Franck’s vocal music (operas, sacred music, oratorios, mélodies) does not occupy a prominent place in the current repertory. His instrumental compositions – headed by the Violin Sonata in A major and followed by the organ works – represent virtually all that today’s audiences and musicians know of his output. Yet the mélodies and vocal duets, neglected by performers and publishers alike, deserve to be plucked from oblivion, both for their own sake and for their place in the history of French music. The alluring voices of Tassis Christoyannis and Véronique Gens immerse the listener in the atmosphere of the nineteenth-century Parisian salons and the mélodies performed there. The composer and organist César Franck, famed for his instrumental music, proves himself equally skilled in setting poems by Musset, Hugo, Chateaubriand, Daudet and Dumas. This first complete recording of his works for voice and piano ranges over his entire creative life.
REVIEWS:
Of Franck’s overlooked works, probably none are more so than his mélodies (songs). Now, with this new release, Bru Zane provide what is described as the first complete recording of Franck’s works for voice and piano. This collection of 22 mélodies and 6 duos range throughout most of Franck’s compositional life, commencing in 1843 when he was just out of his teens with Robin Gray and Le Sylphe through to 1889 with Les Cloches du soir and La Procession written close to the end of his life. For his melodies, Franck elected to set French texts headed by Victor Hugo with six and also François-René de Chateaubriand, Alphonse Daudet, Alexandre Dumas, Joseph Méry and others.
Bru Zane has entrusted this Franck collection to Greek baritone Tassis Christoyannis and American pianist Jeff Cohen...Christoyannis shines throughout for his reliably warm and appealing tone coupled with the responsive accompaniment from Cohen.
In the set of 6 Duos Christoyannis is partnered by renowned French soprano Véronique Gens who also sings a single mélodie...Her voice remains in outstanding condition and dependably attractive, displaying a special gift for expression. Written in 1888 the 6 Duos, settings of text by five different writers, best evokes the atmosphere of the Parisian salon in the Belle Époque. Christoyannis [has] ease of delivery and Gens[,] engaging charm...
Sound engineer Matteo Costa has achieved splendid clarity and balance between singers and piano. It’s hard to fault the presentation of Bru Zane releases and this album is no exception. In the accompanying booklet there are a pair of essays Another side to César Franck by Alexandre Dratwicki and The Songs and Duets of César Franck by Jean-Philippe Navarre. There is also detailed and helpful information given for each of the twenty-eight songs/duets together with several reproductions of artworks and documents of the period. The French texts provided with English translations alongside are invaluable.
Beautifully performed, recorded and presented, this album of the complete Songs and Duets of César Franck is an appealing addition to the catalogue.
--MusicWeb International (Michael Cookson)
JOHN OGDON: THE ARGO YEARS
Derrière La Porte
FAURE: REQUIEM
con afecto
Danzi, Mendelssohn, Weber: Sonatas, Etc / Neidich, Levin
Danzi's Sonata is an amiable piece that shares with Weber's Duo an interest in giving the two partners equality by occasionally silencing the clarinet. It is charmingly invented, though not as forward-looking in manner as some of his music. Mendelssohn's Sonata is a good deal less evenly inspired than much of the music written in his dazzling teens, with some empty passagework that seems to be on automatic pilot in the outer movements contrasting with striking developmental sections where the composer takes the controls again. Much the most remarkable movement is the Andante, a curiously haunting little song first played on unaccompanied clarinet and charmingly deployed throughout the movement.
-- JW, Gramophone [9/1995] Review of Sony 64302
Les Forjerons / Edocs, Illes, Gaborjani
With the selection of this album, enthusiasts of Baroque music have an insight into the highly particular and individual style of Jean-Jacques-Baptiste Anet, a French violinist- composer, now hardly known but in his time considered to be one of the greatest violinists. He was born in Paris. He studied with Arcangelo Corelli for four years in Rome. Afterwards, he returned to Paris about 1700, and was met with the greatest success. There can be little doubt that by his example the principles of the great Italian school of violin-playing were first introduced into France. Probably owing to the jealousy of his French colleagues Anet soon left Paris again, and is said to have spent the rest of his life as conductor of the private band of a nobleman in Poland. He published three sets of sonatas for the violin. This release showcases sonatas for violin and basso-continuo.
POULENC: STABAT MATER LITANIES A LA VIERGE NOIRE
Mercadante: Didone Abbandonata / Marchi, Academia Montis Regalis, Coro Maghini
Giuseppe Saverio Mercadante was a contemporary of Donizetti and Rossini, and his prolific output of operas proved influential in founding dramatic techniques that were taken on by Verdi. Set in the ancient and besieged city of Carthage, Didone abbandonata is the dramatic and tragic tale of ill-starred lovers whose decisions ultimately place an entire populace in peril. A genuine rarity in the theatre, Didone has strong ties to the 18th century but also points towards the bel canto innovations that were to come. This carefully researched and critically acclaimed production presents the work in the sound and playing style of Mercadante’s time.
Paganini: La Campanella, Le Streghe / Philippe Quint, Dmitry Cogan
PAGANINI (arr. Kreisler) Violin Concerto No. 2: Rondo, “La campanella.” Variations on Non più mesta. Moto perpetuo. Caprices: Nos. 13, 20, 24. Le streghe. Variations on Di tanti palpiti • Philippe Quint (vn); Dmitriy Cogan (pn) • NAXOS 8.570703 (60:20)
Fritz Kreisler made a rather large number of arrangements of Paganini’s music, and a great deal of them appear in Philippe Quint’s collection. In addition to these, Kreisler arranged the First Concerto’s first movement in a version that he himself recorded (though not until 1936, when he had entered his 60s—it’s the only Paganini he recorded), as, later, would Alfredo Campoli and Guila Bustabo. August Wilhelmj also arranged the first movement of that concerto, snipping here and there, reorchestrating, and adding romantic transitions—but Kreisler’s version bears the imprint of both Vienna and his own personality. While Heifetz, early on, reportedly played Wilhelmj’s arrangement with piano (Váša P?íhoda recorded it that way), I’m not aware of a tradition of performing Kreisler’s version. So this roster of works arranged for violin and piano seems pretty much complete.
Quint begins with the finale of the Second Concerto, often played as an encore. He possesses not only the agility to make the harmonics tinkle (the movement’s subtitle, “La campanella,” suggests the ringing of bells) but the stylistic sensitivity and adaptability to play the occasional passage as though it had been written by Kreisler rather than Paganini (and the accompaniments—Kreisler, like Heifetz, played the piano almost as well as he did the violin—indulge Kreisler’s tendency to gemütlich chromaticism). Occasionally here, as in other pieces, Kreisler simplifies or omits, but the excisions and emendations hardly ever disfigure the torso he’s left. And Quint plays with such authority that it’s hard to hear these arrangements as anything but definitive, though inspection reveals otherwise.
Paganini’s variations showcase many of his most difficult technical innovations (there’s nothing in the caprices, for example, to equal the accompanied pizzicatos or double harmonics of the variations on God Save the King ). They’re difficult enough to make a dazzling impression even when some of the terrors have been shorn, as in Kreisler’s arrangements. He certainly didn’t blanch at the double harmonics that figure so prominently in the Variations on Non più mesta , and neither does Quint, though they’re not 99 and 99/100 percent pure in his reading.
The young Jascha Heifetz and the young Michael Rabin made electrifying impressions, each, in the Moto perpetuo . If Quint doesn’t bite as deeply into the string as they did even at their lickety-split tempos, he still manages to make a lively impression; his reading takes 4:11, with Heifetz’s (1918) and Rabin’s (1960) and Ricci’s, 3:59, 3: 13, and 4:00, respectively, but Rabin didn’t repeat the first section. It’s impossible to distinguish the difficult passages from the easy ones. Next in Quint’s program come the three caprices Kreisler arranged for violin and piano (Heifetz used to play the 13th and 20th in Kreisler’s way). Quint plays the 13th at a tempo so deliberate that it’s hard to maintain focus, even though the piano part’s interesting enough in itself, but there’s nothing soggy about his approach to the staccatos in the middle section; in his rendition, what had become known as the “Devil’s Laugh” comes closer to a devil’s sigh. In No. 20, he realizes much of the lyricism suggested by the rich piano accompaniment (compare it at this tempo with the even richer one by Karol Szymanowski and see how adept it seems). And he brings a strikingly playful sense, reminiscent of Kreisler’s own, to the middle section (he doesn’t return to the opening after it—-Kreisler reworked the middle section’s ending).
Le streghe —at least its theme—has become familiar to most violin students working their way through the Suzuki literature, but the piece from which it has been drawn has been recorded with an infrequency that may be due to its difficulty. Quint makes a crisp impression in the double- and triple-stopped passages, reminiscent of Ricci’s performances of the composer’s works, and more advanced recording techniques provide a truer tonal portrait. Quint is as ardently insinuating on the G string as he is commanding in those multiple-stops. And he’s as Kreislerian in the seemingly obvious interpolations as he is Paganinian in the original material.
Paganini’s 24th Caprice has perhaps been played and recorded in the original version more often than in arrangement, but Heifetz used to play Leopold Auer’s reworking. Kreisler’s represents, in a way, a different kind of work, with flintier sparks but some of the original variations replaced (think of what he did with Tartini’s Variations on a Theme of Corelli—there’s a variation here that sounds very much like the multiple-stopped one he created for that Tartini piece). The variation in descending thirds sounds languid in this version (and in Quint’s performance).
Once again in the introduction to Paganini’s variations on Di tanti palpiti , the music suddenly sounds like Kreisler. That happens so often in Kreisler’s arrangements that it would attract little notice. But Quint plays with a special Kreislerian sensibility that renders the effect a magical one.
The engineers have captured Quint and the capable Dmitriy Cogan up close, and in this case cozying up like this doesn’t yield an HD image that reveals warts and skin blemishes; Quint is nearly flawless. Kreisler obviously had a good working technique, even if he might never have rivaled Heifetz or Ricci or Kogan or Milstein—and the list might go on longer. Perhaps, however, he had other fish to fry. Or perhaps he didn’t and he might have been, as his wife embarrassingly insisted in public, a fine violinist if he’d only have practiced. Be that as it may, Quint gives these pieces idiomatic performances that Kreisler himself might have envied. That’s a mouthful. Strongly recommended.
FANFARE: Robert Maxham
Verdi: Aida / Serjan, Paterson, Rizzi
AIDA
Il Re – Kevin Short
Amneris – Iano Tamar
Aida – Tatiana Serjan
Radamès – Rubens Pelizzari
Ramfis – Tigran Martirossian
Amonasro – Iain Paterson
Un messaggero – Ronald Samm
Una sacerdotessa – Elisabetta Martorana
Camerata Silesia
Polish Radio Choir, Krakow
Bregenz Festival Chorus
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Carlo Rizzi, conductor
Graham Vick, stage director
Paul Brown, stage and costume designer
Ron Howell, choreography
Wolfgang Göbbel, lighting designer
Recorded live from the Bregenz Festival, 22 and 24 July 2009.
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian
Running time: 135 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)
R E V I E W:
At Bregenz one can expect spectacular productions – or at least conspicuous ones. I am talking about Opera on Lake Bodensee which takes place in July and August each year. It’s part of the Bregenz festival which provides a lavish offer of opera, theatre and concerts. The outdoor stage surrounded by water invites gigantic sets and the long distance to the grandstand on the shore requires amplifying equipment. I have seen some productions on DVD and also some stills. They are generally provocative, putting the characters in settings as far away from the original as can be imagined. Il trovatore a few years ago took place in an industrial landscape, possibly on an oil platform. This Aida goes even further. The water here isn’t ocean deep but allows the actors to wade, to swim, to fall in or splash, even to be drowned. During the prelude two lifeless bodies hanging on a wire attached to an enormous building crane, are slowly transported before the eyes of horrified onlookers until they are lowered down into a barge off the stage. In Trovatore fire was central to the proceedings; in Aida water has the same importance, the Nile being the life-blood of the Egyptians. There is a water ballet in the triumphal scene. The tomb episode takes place on a ship drifting among the waves. During the final duet the ship rises from the water and sails into the sky, leaving Amneris alone at the waters’ edge. A real amphibious opera.
Dominating the stage picture are two monstrously big, blue feet. Why are they there? Whatever the reason they appear to function as the firm foundation around which the action rotates, whether it be Aida, the slave girl, scrubbing the floor, Amneris in black dotted evening gown airing her human ‘dogs’ or high priests and soldiers invading the stage. There are activities aplenty with numerous extras just being there, costumes are a mix of modern and ancient. All this business tends to suffocate the central conflicts and it is typical of the performance that it is in the Nile scene – act III – that the action grabs the viewer by the throat; this is the first scene with no external distractions. In a way this is dramaturgically sensitive, since the first two acts primarily deal with festivities, while the core of the drama is the triangle Aida – Amonasro – Radames. This is an oversimplification of the plot. There are many strands in the libretto and Amneris – though basically an evil character but one who loves – is the hub around which everything rotates. In this performance it also becomes obvious why Verdi initially contemplated naming the opera Amneris.
Iano Tamar, the Georgian soprano who was also a great Leonora in Il Trovatore, is the star; her somewhat darkish timbre contrasting well with Tatiana Serjan’s girlish Aida. Tamar has authority and a thrilling lirico-spinto voice. In the first scene in act IV she is truly great. Serjan at first seems too lyrical for Aida, having a fluttery soubrette voice but it sits well with her youthful looks. Her Ritorna vincitor is however sung with intensity and in the third and fourth acts she grows in stature, no doubt inspired by Scottish baritone Iain Paterson’s powerful Amonasro. He is an unusually dangerous Ethiopian king. Rubens Pelizzari is a rather pale Radamès in the first two acts but like his Aida he grows and in the Nile duet he finds a glow that has eluded him before. O terra addio, though sung in a strange setting, is delivered with lyrical beauty and warmth by both artists. Tigran Martirossian is an acceptable Ramfis but Kevin Short’s King is terribly wobbly.
As so often with these Bregenz productions one ends up in two minds. They’re innovative for sure, and this Aida is no exception. One can marvel at ideas that suddenly illuminate the proceedings but just as often one thinks: ‘What’s the point of this?’ Carlo Rizzi keeps things together and draws splendid playing from the Wiener Symphoniker. The choral forces have no easy task to walk all those stairs and balance on wet slippery stones while keeping an eye on the conductor but they manage it well. Sound and pictures are good. Readers have to decide from my descriptions whether this is a DVD worth spending money on, but Iano Tamar’s glorious Amneris should definitely be seen and heard.
-- Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International
Montemezzi: L'incantesimo - Debussy: L'enfant prodigue / Fracassi, Italian Philharmonic
On 9 October 1943, NBC Radio in New York broadcast the world premiere of a one-act opera by Italo Montemezzi (1875-1952), L’incantesimo, (The Spell), with Italian libretto by playwright Sem Benelli (1877-1949). The broadcast was a belated form of recognition, because by that time Montemezzi was widely famous in the United States. Conducted by Arturo Toscanini, this opera ran in New York for 25 seasons - an extraordinarily long-lived success, with such major names as Serafin, Stokowsky, De Sabata and Bruno Walter conducting quality editions of the work to widespread critical approval. In the New York Times, the respected critic Olin Downs echoed the general enthusiasm, praising the music, action and style as eminently suited to performance on the radio, adding that the work's lyricism was as strong as in L’Amore dei tre re, although perhaps less immediate than Puccini's. Montemezzi's moderately modern music follows a middle path between a freely declamatory approach for the main characters and more markedly melodic passages for tenor and soprano which might easily pass for short concert pieces or in the great narrative scene of the description of the hunt. Nonetheless, Montemezzi's real capacity for invention lies in his orchestral writing which evokes Wagnerian “infinite melody” and, in certain sections, the imaginative symphonic approach of Richard Strauss with its variety, wealth of color, modulation, rhythmic phrasing, and solo instrumental gesture.
Mademoiselle: Première Audience - Unknown Music of Nadia Boulanger
Delos has the tremendous honor of issuing the first-ever album devoted to the wonderful compositions of Nadia Boulanger: truly a release of great historical importance. None dispute that Boulanger was by far the twentieth century’s most influential composition teacher. Yet “Mademoiselle,” as she has long been known in the music world, dismissed her own works as “useless,” with the result that they are almost completely unknown to the musical public today. But not anymore. Music lovers everywhere can now hear Boulanger’s complete works, published and unpublished (including 13 world premieres), in the genres of the art song, solo piano, cello and piano, and organ, as performed by an all-star array of musicians. Mademoiselle’s music, with its beauty and originality, will amaze listeners everywhere.
REVIEWS:
Absolutely nothing about this record denotes one of the most important classical records of this or any year -- not the venerable but small American label Delos or the French, Israeli, and American musicians involved.
But what you've got here is historic and very great indeed: the first recording of music by one of the most important figures in all of 20th century music but one whose own music has been kept under virtual lock and key since her death in 1979 at the age of 92.
Nadia Boulanger's own compositional life occupied only a small part of her very long life: from 1901 to 1922. She didn't think her own music was worth much. You will differ completely after hearing these two discs. Listen to these songs, piano pieces and works for cello and piano and you'll, in fact, be dumbfounded that it took so long for this music to have its world premiere on record.
– Buffalo News (Jeff Simon)
The performances here range from good to considerably better. Nicole Cabell’s singing of just over half the songs is exquisite: delicately shaded, tonally lovely, and sensitive to the texts. Neither of the two male singers has a voice with the distinctiveness of hers, but both are fine singers and more than do justice to the songs. Tenor Alek Shrader really understands the French style. The usual range of subjects—love, grief, nature, and religion—are all covered in Boulanger’s melodies. Some songs are surprisingly passionate from a composer whom history has painted as a reserved and controlled personality.
The instrumental works, all miniatures, are skillfully crafted (as one would expect from a life-long pedagogue), but also display a spark of ingenuity and inspiration. The third of the three pieces for cello and piano, Vite et nerveusement rythmé, is a vivid depiction of nervous energy, forming a strong contrast to the first piece, which is longingly romantic. There is throughout the disc a great deal of variety of mood and color, which helps to maintain interest. Pianist Lucy Mauro does yeoman’s work as both soloist and as collaborative pianist, though without demonstrating a really strong musical personality. The cellist and organist are quite good as well, and the well-balanced and natural recorded sound is also a plus. Finally, so are Delos’s extensive and informative notes. Everything about this disc combines to make an enthusiastic recommendation easy.
-- Fanfare
A. Hugo: Mélodies sur des poèmes de Victor Hugo
Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
In the last and most dramatic aria in “Roberto Devereux,” one of the four Tudor period operas composed by Donizetti in 1837 (along with “Anna Bolena,” “Maria Stuarda,” and “Il Castello di Kenilworth,”) the protagonist, Queen Elizabeth I of England, exclaims: “I do not reign, I do not live.” This statement encapsulates great operatic themes, and it is the culmination of an opera that reveals the passions of characters who live among palace intrigues. Written in the mature period of the leader of Italian romanticism, the opera displays a great vocal virtuosity, and is an example of Donizetti prizing the voice above all in the genre. The staging, by South African director Alessandro Talevi, who has been very successful in great opera houses as well as with more experimental theatre, places the play in an undetermined period, focusing on the chiaroscuro. Bruno Campanella conducts the production with Mariella Devia in the lead. “This was a most promising start to the season, a first-class rendition of a neglected work and a joyful confirmation of Mariella Devia’s well-deserved place in bel canto history.” (Bachtrack.com)
